Plants have been doing this for ages and now man finally succeeded in splitting carbon dioxide gas and derive carbon from the atmosphere to use it as a fuel source.
Trying to emulate the plants, Frederic Goettmann, a chemist at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany and his colleagues Arne Thomas and Markus Antonietti developed a nitrogen-based catalyst that can yield carbamates.
The project banked on various ways to harness the ‘lost’ carbon from carbon dioxide — the most common waste derived from burning fossil fuels. It is also the most important greenhouse gas, largely responsible for causing global warming.
Goettmann said,
Breaking open the very stable bonds in CO2 is one of the biggest challenges in synthetic chemistry. Carbon monoxide can be used to build new carbon-carbon bonds. We have taken the first step towards using carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as a source for chemical synthesis.
If the results from this project are once refined, could it help turn the clock back and remove CO2 from the atmosphere transforming into fuel?
